Addressing machine



Patented Nov. 3,v 1925.

[UNITED STATES 1,560,212 PIA'rENT OFFICE.

. lCLIFTON"CIEISBOII'JIMC, OF OLEVELAND, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO THE AMERICAN MULTI- GRAPH COMPANY, OF (LIEIVIEILALNDl OHIO, A CORPORATION OF OHIO.

Annnnss'INe MAcnINn Application med July 11, i924. serial No. 725,370.

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CLIFTON CHIsHoLM,

a citizen of the United States, residing at Cleveland5 in the county of Cuyahoga and of lines, such plate mounted as a unit on a suitable holding plate. Another addressing system provides a holder having rows -of opstandingY overhan ing buttons, connected by narrower upwar lyformed corrugations and embossed strips, each having a singleline of characters, and each resting on the i top of a row of buttons and 'corrugations addressing machine enables the use 'ot single embossed late, where the relation ofand retained in place by ianged edges which extend beneath the rojections of the buttons. This latter ad ress plate has a' reater overall thickness than the address p ate'of the first mentioned system.

The addressing machine of the present invention is designed to print from either of these-types of plate indiscriminately, so -that no harm results if either type ofplate' becomes mixed with the others. In fact my the the name and a dress is never changed, in conjunction with the individual line, embossed strips which enables a ready change 'of the riame or any 'portion of the address.

-In accomplishing the above described re'- sults, I provide a bed member which receives the thrust of the platen against the interposed paper and late in such form that withput changes 1t may support the thinner address late with its bottom at a correspondingly igher elevation than the thicker plate. In the particular instance of the address plates mentioned, I provide a bed with parallel upstanding ribs, the topsv of which may engage the fiat bottomof the thinner address plate, and hold it at proper printing. height or may enter thegrooves formedl in the underside of thel thicker address plate by reason of the upstandin corrugationsthereof and thus hold-suc -adcordingly, no Aadjustment o operating arm 21 in the usual manner.

height. Ac-

the platen 'stroke is required for the different address plates, and they may beted oneafter another across the bed and caused to impress the paper without regard to which type of address plate is acting.

I am using the term address-plate herein as covering the composite structure, com-l prising a. holdin plate and a member or members mounte 'thereon and having printing faces for a name and address or equiva-Q dress' plate at the same printing `lent matter.

-My invention is hereinafter more' fullyi explained in connection with the drawingsl which illustrate that portion of the machine with which the present invention is. con- `cerned. Such features are hereinafter more fully explained in the detailed -descri tion of the embodiment shown in these ings.

In the drawings, Fig. 1 is a plan of a i portion of an addressing machine equipped with my invention, this view showing each of two'characters of address plates on the conveyor. Fig. 2. is a sectional side elevation of such portion of the addressing ma` chine sho'wing also the platen and a portion of its operating arm. Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the address plate bed, made' in accordance with this invention, this view .showing also a portion of the holder late of the thicker type of address plate.` ig. 4 is a diagrammatic view showing in end eleva` tion, the supporting bed, the left hand half of the view showing such bed with the thinner plate thereon, and the right.hand half with the thicker plate thereon. f

As shown in the drawings, 1Q indicates the plate-supporting bedxof the machine 'having parallel upstanding ribs 11.. A suitable support 12 is shown as extendin at a lower elevation from the ribbed bed. air of conveyor chains 1 5, 'shown as pro elle by sprocket wheels 16, travels along t le opposite sides of the bed and extension for con- 4 veying the address plates from ya suitable supply (not shown)- to the ribbed bed. The s rocket chains have u standing proections 1g arranged ut interval s and adapte to engage the address plates and shove .them for-v wardly; that is, toward the left 1n Figs. 1 and 2. 20 designatesvl the platen above the ribbed bed, which is shown as carried by an The so-called thinner address plate is shown at A in Figs. l, 2 and 4 and the thicker address plate at B in the same igures. The thin address plate is shown as comprising a sheet of metal a, having an upwardly and inwardly curled edge flange a1 and turned vup tongues a, curled toward the flange a1. A plate a? embossed with several rows of characters is slid into place between the surface in the line of the ridge of the cor# rugations but extending laterally therefrom in a plane parallel with that of the body o the plate, so as to provide overhanging edges free from the body of the plate. The em-' bossed strips designated b3 have upwardly embossed characters on their faces andA flanges at their edges adapted to extend beneath the arcuate edges of the buttons when the strips lie on the tops of the corrugations and buttons.

It will be seen that in the case of this Bl type of address plate the total thickness consists of the thickness of the holder plate the thickness ot the embossed strip, the amount the characters project above the top of the strip, an'din addition to these thicknesses, the amount which the corrugations rise above the top surface of the plate B.

Accordingly, this plate B is thicker than the address plate A. -The amount by which it exceeds in' thicknesswould correspond to the ,height of the corrugations (i. e. the depth of the g'roove on the underside of the plate B) if the other factors were equal, but in practice the amount by which the characters are raised above the plate as differs'from the projection of the characters on the strip bs. Also the plate a3 may be ot different thickness from thel strip b3, and likewise'the plates a. and b may differ in thickness The ribs 11 on the bed are located a distanceapart corresponding to that ofthe corrugations on the address plate B. The height of these ribs corresponds to the dif ference in overall thickness between the two types of address plates. It therefore fol lows that when thethin address plate of the A-tvpe comes over the bed, it is supported 60 \by the tops of the ribs at a definite height,

as shown in the lett hand portion of Fig. 4, whereas, when an address plate of the B type comes into registration with this bed it drops down so that the body of the plate extends between-the ribs 11 and the bottom rests on'the bed proper while thelsides of the corrugations straddle the ribs. The resultis that the printing face is in the' same horizonal plane as that of the printingface on the A type of address plate.

It will be understood from the description given that address plates' of the A and B types may be placed indiscriminately in the magazine for the machine and Ated by the conveyor to the bed and platen and printed form, without regard to tlie'characf ter of plate, by a platen -having constant stroke. f

I have indicated in 2. a sheet of paper P in position t`o be printed, and an inkmg machine R for effecting the inking. Itis to beunderstood, however, that the printing surfaces may be inked in other manner if desired. y

Having thus described my invention, I claim: f *A l. In an addressing machine, the combina tion, with address plates of different thicknesses, otv means for feeding themindiscriminately, and means adapted to support such plates at a constant face elevation. l

2. In an addressing machine, the combination, with address plates of ditferentthickness, of'a bed adapted without adjustment to support such plates at aI constant eleva` tion..

3. -In an addressing machine, the combination with different ty es of address plates of.` va platen, and a bed iavingprojections eX- tending toward the platen and adapted to support such different types of address plates with the printing surface in the same rela tion to the platen.

4. iIhe combination with two kinds' of 'address plates, one of which has a fiat bottom, and the other a grooved bottom, of an addressing machine having means provided with projections adapted to support the -fiat bottom plate with its lower surfaces `in the 4plane of the top of the projections and adapted to ,support the grooved plate with the projections occupying the grooves.

5. In an addressing machine, the combina.- tion of a bed having parallel ribs, a platen adapted to coact. therewith, and means for conveying address plates into position be tween the ribs and platen, whereby rooved and ungrooved plates of relatively ltlerent in the same printing plane..

G. In an addressing machine, the combination ot a bed having projections, relatively thin address plates adapted to rest against the face of the projections and thicker address'. plates adapted to rest against the bed between projections.

7L In an addressing machine, the combination v'of a bed having parallel u standing ribs thereon, a platen above the ved, relatively thin plates adapted to stand on the` lthickness may be supported with their faces ribs, and relatively .thick plates having grooves into which the ribs -may extend,"

while thebottom of the bed between the ribs. v

V8. In an addressing machine,` a bed hav-l ing parallel upstanding ribs thereon, a con. veyor adapted to carry address lates one after the other into position over ed, and a platen adapted to coact with a plate when on such bed, in combination with two kinds plates rest on the of address plates, one adapted to rest on top of the ribs and tlieother to depend between them.

9. The combination with a relatively thin address plate and a relatively thicker address plate having a groovedl bottom, of a machine having a supporting member forv the p/late, said su porting member having projections of va height corresponding to the difference in thickness between the two types of plates.

10. The combination with an address plate havin a substantially fiat bottom and another ad ress plate having a bottom with parallel grooves therein, a platen, and a supporting bed coacting with the platen and having upstanding ribs spaced in corre.

spondence with the grooves and vhaving a height equal to the amount by which the thickness of the flat bottom address plate exceeds the thickness of the 'grooved bottom address plate.

11. In an addressing machine, the combi-I nation with a platen of a coacting member havin parallel equidistan-t ribs on its face,`

where y comparatively thin plates may have ltheir bottoms engage the top of the ribs and thicker grooved plates may occupy space between the ribs and thus both plates present their impression faces in the same plane. f

` 12. The combination with an address plate having a Hat bottom and anA embossed sheet of metall secured thereon and another address plate having upwardly bent corrugations and lateral projections at the top 'of 'l the corrugations and embossed strips overa distanceapart corresponding to distance lying the corrugations' and projections, and a member to receive the printing thrust and having parallel projecting ribs arranged on whereby the acting faces of the address plates are at the same elevation irrespective of their thickness.

14. In an addressing machine, the combi-l nation of a bed having parallel upstanding ribs thereon, a platen above the bed, relatively thin plates adapted to stand onthe Jribs, relatively thick plates having grooves jjfintorwhich the ribs mayexte'nd, and a pair `-of conveyor chains having projections adapted to conveyeithermtype of plate indiscrimi nately into l.position betweenv the bed and platen. l

15. Airaddressingmachine, the combination of a bed having parallel upstanding ribs therepn, a laten abovethe bed, a pair of conveyor. c ains adapt-ed to convey plates into position between the bed and platen, whereby plates of different thickness may be indiscriminatel used, and inking means suitable `for eit er type of plate.

- 16. The combination with address plate having Aa flat bottom and an embossed sheet of metal secured thereon, another address plate having upwardly bent cori'ugations and embossed stril s overlying the corruga-4 ltions and resting t ereon, a bed having parallel projecting ribsl arranged a ldistance apart, corresponding to distance between corrugations and having a height equivalent to the dii'ei'ence in thickness between' the two types of addressl plates, conveyor chains for feeding the two types of lates indiscriminately, means for inkin either type of plate, and a platen adapte to coact with either type of plate whenon the bed.

In testimony whereof, I hereunto atlix my signature. l

. CLIFTON GHISHOLM. 

